New pasture guide launched to support farmers in a changing climate
A new publication has been launched that offers a comprehensive and up-to-date resource on commercially available grazing pasture species in New Zealand.
Massey University's School of Agriculture and Environment head says in the future it's likely that more students will do their degrees part time.
Professor Paul Kenyon's comments follow the graduation of the first cohort of students who have had all three years of their degree study disrupted in some way by Covid-19. Kenyon says despite these disruptions, he's confident that these students have the same knowledge as those who gained their degrees pre Covid.
"Their marks certainly indicate this," he told Rural News.
Kenyon says this latest cohort of students have developed new skills and traits that will set them up for successful careers in the new digital environment. He believes they have learned to be more self-reliant and independent because during lockdown they had to learn by themselves and are well set up for their future careers.
"In terms of the practical aspect of their degrees, this was only reduce a bit 2020 and 2021 and it's now back to normal," Kenyon explains. "But as with all distance and external students block courses were arranged, so that they could complete their practical work."
He adds that Massey students also do placements on farm and orchards during their holiday breaks to hone their skills and make them 'work ready'.
Kenyon believes that, going forward, the trend towards distance learning will likely grow.
He says the cost of education is rising and it's possible some students will stay in their local areas, work in the ag sector and do their degrees part time. For many students this will be a cheaper option.
He says Massey has always specialised in distance education and as a university was relatively well prepared for changes that were forced on it by Covid.
Meanwhile, this year's top Massey Ag students were honoured at a special ceremony recently. The top prize - the William Gerrish Award - was won by Adam Honeyfield, a Bachelor of Agribusiness student from Tauranga. He is majoring in rural valuation, grew up on a farm, and now works part-time for a rural valuation company in Tauranga while he finishes his degree.
Honeyfield says he was humbled to receive the award.
"I was quite surprised to be honoured," he told Rural News. "It's been a long journey for me - four years of hard work by distance, so it's a nice way to wrap things up. The hard work has all paid off," he says.
The other top students were Ingeborg Smythe (Earth Science), Joanna Wood (Environmental Science), Lachlan Barrett (Horticultural Science), Erika Lilley (Agriculture) and Brooklynn Taylor (Animal Science).
The Taranaki region is enjoying one of the highest gross domestic product (GDP) per capita figures in New Zealand, thanks to high farmgate dairy prices.
Fertiliser co-operative Ravensdown is working on delivering a rebate for its farmer shareholders next year - the first in four years.
New Zealand avocado growers have received a major boost by securing a collective FernMark Licence for their exports.
Beef + Lamb NZ's countrywide director roadshow arrived in Feilding last week, bringing with it ongoing positivity in the sector, an overview of the work B+LNZ does on behalf of levypayers and a proposed change on how the levy would be collected in the future.
A stronger than expected outlook for dairy has prompted one bank to lift its 2025-26 season forecast milk price by 75c to $10.25/kgMS.
Chinese dairy giant Yili Group says its New Zealand operations are on track for strong revenue growth in 2025 after recording significant year-on-year growth for the first half of the year.
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